


Jump The Gun

by le_chat_vilain



Series: In The Dark [2]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Adult Themes, Angst, Depression, F/F, F/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 20:48:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5220293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/le_chat_vilain/pseuds/le_chat_vilain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Victoria finds out why she was really kept alive, as Ronan tries to convince her to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jump The Gun

**Author's Note:**

> No real warnings here, except maybe a little bit of a dodgy kiss consent moment. Nothing I would think should be too triggering for anyone. Still no real smut in there but I’m now driving myself crazy so the wait is pretty much over. Next chapter there will be something, I promise, but it won’t be pretty or sweet that’s for sure.

She was escorted to her new lodgings by a disgruntled Nebula in silence. When they reached the door, she stepped inside to find the space surprisingly not horrific. There was a bed of carved metal on the back wall, a long desk to its left, and a bench cut into the wall. There was even a coffee table. As she turned back to face the door, Nebula threw a change of clothes and something that looked suspiciously like a pager at her.

“Is…this a beeper?” Victoria asked, puzzled.

“It’s a communicator,” Nebula spat back before slapping the button beside the door to close it. Victoria was alone again.

She unfolded the clothes and examined them. Black leather pants, a zip up black vest with some kind of light weight armor in it, made of what she guessed was closest to denim, and leather jacket that was cropped just above the waist. Looking around, she spotted a door that thankfully led to a basic bathroom, and gladly washed the gunk of the Dark Aster’s brig away.

Pulling on the new clothes, she found they were a little tight but not uncomfortably so; he must have told Nebula to hand over some of her extras. It would certainly explain why she was so pissed. It actually wasn’t a terrible ensemble once she had it on, and she checked herself over in the mirrored wall behind the desk. The vest squashed her tits together in a way that was actually pretty impressive, and it was a little on the short side; the sliver of visible skin above her pants line showing a peek of the tattoos on her stomach and lower back. All in all, it could have been worse. Flopping down on the bed, she began to wonder exactly what she had gotten herself into.

The whole point of going on Tivan’s silly little errand was so she could make enough money to piss her sorrows away until death came for her. She hadn’t counted on being captured at any point, and when she woke up here she certainly hadn’t expected to walk out of an encounter with Ronan with her skull in tact.

Why would he keep her alive? It’s not like he needed her to read a map. He had said something about being an advisor, but advisor on what? He clearly didn’t need a human lie detector, he seemed fairly good at distinguishing fact from fiction himself. Perhaps he wanted her to teach him about psychiatry and how to read people, it was the only logical explanation. Or was it? Victoria’s mind began to replay their encounter, the way he came so close to her, the way he looked at her when their lips brushed, with that restrained hunger that she had assumed was just him trying not to kill her. What if she was wrong? Yes, there was one other reason after all. The more she entertained the thought, the more she found herself actually wanting to see what the big guy was packing.

Suddenly she heard the communicator beep and vibrate on the desk. When she touched the screen, it lit up with a map to Ronan’s quarters and a reminder of the time: 14.55hrs. Pulling on her worn old combat boots, she set off down the hall, not bothering to go back for the jacket once she realized she’d forgotten it.

It didn’t take long to reach the door to his domain, it was actually just a stones throw down the hall from her own quarters, giving credence to her earlier theory regarding the sparing of her life. She rapped her knuckles on the bulkhead and after a moment it slid open silently. Stepping through, the room opened up to a huge space divided into three smaller ones. Immediately in front of her in the central area, was an oval shaped console table, a hologram of their current location in space swirling idly above it. This must be the war table of sorts. In the area to her left she spotted the same inlaid bench as in her room, with a stone block coffee table, facing a wall with a large screen on it. Men and their television, even on the other side of the fucking galaxy they were all the same. When she glanced to the right she saw a panel of frosted glass with the corner of a metal bed just visible on the other side. This really was his private quarters. The man himself sat in a large stone chair on the opposite side of the console, his weapon resting in a stand of sorts that was built into the frame.

“You are early, Victoria,” he remarked, rising slowly from his seat.

“I’m just down the corridor, and I’m a New Yorker, we walk fast,” she replied unapologetically. “We’re also notoriously impatient, so what do you want?”

“What I want is for you to help me interrogate prisoners, and seek out and expose any traitors in my midst,” he explained.

“Do you think you have some? I can’t say I’m surprised,” she responded. Of course someone like him would have to deal with treachery on a regular basis, anyone on this ship could be looking to stab him in the back at any moment. The thought of it made her feel oddly protective of him and the reflex took her aback.

“Yes.”

“How do you know I’m not one?” she questioned, sauntering over to him with a smug grin on her face. “I mean, you know I’m not scared of you, wouldn’t it be so easy for me to throw you under the bus?”

“The bus?” he asked with concern. Of course he wouldn’t know what a bus was.

“Never mind, it’s a metaphor. It means to betray someone. My point still stands though. I am probably the least trustworthy person on this ship.”

“Do you know why I spared you, Victoria?” he questioned. “Because make no mistake, I was going to kill you.”

“I wish you had,” she said. “But go on, explain your mysterious reasoning.”

“That. You say you aren’t to be trusted but have you lied to me yet? You aren’t afraid to tell me the truth like the rest of them.”

“So you kept me breathing for my honesty?” she exclaimed, unable to stifle her laughter at the thought. “Boy are you barking up the wrong tree. That was probably the only honest moment of my entire fucking life.”

“And yet there it is again,” he stepped closer to her, studying her with those glowing eyes and an almost child like curiosity. Now that she thought about it, he did actually have a point. She might not be honest by nature but she was the type to give exactly zero fucks what anyone thought about her, it had been why she had always struggled to make any real friends. People on earth don’t tend to like to be told exactly what you think of them. He was different, he actually admired her for her frank appraisal, and he was assuming she would give the same transparent assessments of other people if asked. She couldn’t fault him there. “In any case, why would you betray me? You have no motivation to do so.”

“One could also argue that I have no motivation to help you either.” That was a point he had clearly not considered. She watched his eyes as they dropped slowly to her lips, and then to her chest, and her mouth twisted into a sly smile.

“Sparing your life isn’t motivation enough?”

“Sparing the life of someone with nothing to live for traditionally counts for very little in that person’s book,” she answered.

***

This woman, this infuriating woman! She was the most irritating, arrogant, and completely frustrating puzzle in all the galaxy. Tivan should have locked her up in that collection of his because she was surely worthy. What kind of lunatic placed no value on their own life? Did she know something about death that the rest of the universe didn’t? How was he to reason with someone so bafflingly outside the realms of logical thought? She smirked up at him, leaning her back on the console and folding her arms awaiting his next line of inquiry. He couldn’t help but stare for a moment at the way her arms rested under her tits seeming to bolster them up, only making them stand out even more. Once again he found himself torn between the desire to snap her neck, or bend her over the console and have his way with her. Killing her was not an option, he knew that, he needed her insight.

“Do you have any family, Victoria?” he asked, thinking maybe he could threaten to kill them if she didn’t comply.

“Why? You gonna go to Terra and kidnap them, blackmail me?” came her retort. “Good luck with that, I can give you the coordinates to the family crypt if you like.”

_So that’s a no…_

“And before you ask I don’t have any friends either. I am one hundred percent alone. Like I said, nothing to live for.” There it was, he saw it in her eyes, a flash of vulnerability, sadness maybe. Just a glimpse of it before that cavalier grin snapped back into place. She didn’t have anything to live for, but what if he could give her that? It was a strange notion and he had no idea how to go about it, but it made sense. If her life once again had value, then the act of him sparing it would have value too.

“What if I could give you something to live for?”

“Oh, like you have something? Tell me, apart from this revenge mission of yours, what do you live for? What are you going to do once you actually get what you want?” she bristled, eyebrows raised and smile gone. He considered her question and found himself unable to answer, he hadn’t actually thought about it before, he’d had no cause to. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. The greatest favour you could do me would be to release me from my mortal coil, and that means you don’t get what you want so we both know you won’t do it. You could promise me you’ll kill me after, but I hate to break it to you, I don’t deal in promises.”

She was so fucking infuriating. Without thinking, he let out a roar and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her and slamming her back flat on the console causing the hologram to disappear. She sneered at him through the apparent pain, and raised her hands half heartedly either side of her head, daring him to do it. She wasn’t scared, she didn’t even seem to bothered by how much that had to have hurt. She was insane. A beautiful, fearless, fascinating lunatic.

“You think I won’t?” he asked, squeezing a little tighter, an action that had the odd side effect of making her groan in an entirely inappropriate manner given her situation.

“Oh, I know you won’t,” she said as her legs wrapped around his back and she pulled him towards her, pressing his hips against her. “You’re wondering how I know aren’t you?”

He could feel his grip on control slipping and his pants becoming unbearably tight, something she was no doubt aware of by now.

“Oh, Ronan, so confused. Your own body’s betraying you. It’s those beads of sweat peeking out around your brow, not to mention the changes in your breathing and well…good for you big guy!” He followed her eyes as they traveled down his body and swallowed hard when she raised an eyebrow. “Really I only need to see your eyes though. Doesn’t matter if you’re Terran or Kree, our pupils still dilate when we see something we want. Why don’t you take a look at mine?”

Sure enough, when he examined her eyes he saw it. It was in that moment he realized that he did have something he could give her after all, and his lips split into a sinister grin. Yanking her up to a sitting position, he pulled her forward to him, close enough he could kiss her if he felt so inclined. She let her legs drop so she was sitting on the edge of the console.

“I would break you.”

“You could try?” she challenged and leaned forward, taking his bottom lip in her teeth. She bit down, increasing the pressure slowly until she’d almost broken the skin before tugging away. He wanted to break her, to push her to her limits and see how far that bravery really extended. There was a darkness in her eyes that he found oddly comforting, free of judgment and full of knowing. He tightened his hold on her throat, gripping her harder than he’d done so far. She looked him in the eye and let out a moan, grinning through the discomfort.

_You need to stop. She will let you kill her. Let go. Control yourself._

Cursing himself, he released her from his grasp and backed away. She slid off the console and rubbed her neck as she smirked at him. Her communicator beeped, providing a somewhat welcome distraction.

“Apparently Nebula needs to see me back in my quarters…such a shame.”

He watched her turn and leave, catching a glimpse of another tattoo on her lower back, and one that appeared to stretch across her shoulders. Pausing in the doorway, she peered over her shoulder and winked at him before carrying on her way.

***

Nebula stood waiting for her, leaning against the wall by her door. Those creepy black eyes just staring daggers at her as she walked closer. Victoria didn’t like the way they were just straight black like that, it made her harder to read which was disconcerting.

“What do you want? Did you bring me some socks and panties? Because that would actually be helpful,” Victoria started.

“I don’t know what you’re up to, but I will find out,” Nebula threatened, apparently noticing the smear of black on Victoria’s lips, cocking her head to the side to consider it’s origin for a moment. “Why didn’t he kill you?”

“Isn’t that something you should really be asking him? Or are you too scared?”

“He’ll never love you, you know, he’s not capable,” she stated, apparently having finally processed the black paint.

“What makes you think I want him to?” Victoria scoffed. “Or that I’m capable of loving anyone myself?”

Nebula scowled at her, staring at her lips the whole time. Oh this was perfect, she knew exactly what this was, well, almost.

“What’s the matter Smurfette? Jealous?” Victoria teased, stepping right up into Nebula’s space, causing the woman to look away. “Oh, so you are? You are jealous of me? Or…are you jealous of him?”

Snaking her head around to catch Nebula’s eyes again, Victoria gently took her by the chin and shot her a salacious smirk. As far as women went, she’d never been with one who had body mods, and aside from her off-putting eyes, Nebula’s pixie like features were actually very beautiful.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, there’s plenty of me to go around,” she whispered, lips hovering barely an inch away. Darting her tongue out, she quickly licked Nebula’s lips, following it by gently brushing hers against them. Victoria was so engrossed in her little display of dominance that she didn’t hear the footsteps coming down the corridor. As Nebula’s hand reached up to pull her closer, they were interrupted by a very angry Kree warlord.

“VICTORIA!” Ronan roared, grabbing her by the back of her vest and pulling her away, lifting her into the air as he did so. He shot a glare at Nebula as he hit the button to open the door, and she scarpered in fear.

The door slid open and he threw Victoria inside, stalking in after her and locking it behind him.


End file.
